Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team European Union (Withdrawal) Act on the statute book after receiving Royal Assent Brexit came a step closer today as the Queen formally signed the flagship EU Withdrawal Bill into law. To cheers in the Commons, Speaker John Bercow announced that the crucial legislation has received Royal Assent. The formalising of the Act finally draws a line under hundreds of hours of wrangling among MPs and peers over the process for cutting ties with Brussels. The Act paves the way for the repealing of the 1972 European Communities Act, which underpins Eu membership. It also gives ministers unprecedented executive powers to alter domestic legislation to avoid upheaval during Brexit. However, MPs insisted on safeguards including a ‘triage’ system that will enable them to stop changes that are considered unnecessary. – Daily Mail Tories cheer in the Commons as the Queen gives Brexit royal assent – Metro > WATCH on BrexitCentral’s YouTube channel: Speaker of the House of Commons announces Royal Assent of the EU Withdrawal Bill Business Secretary Greg Clark warned he is ‘stoking Project Fear mark two’ by backing firms’ calls for a ‘soft Brexit’ The Business Secretary has been accused of participating in “Project Fear mark two” after he urged business leaders to use their influence to help soften Brexit. Greg Clark used a speech in London on Tuesday to praise the “business voice” that puts “evidence before ideology”, contrasting it with the “imagined worlds” and “speculation” of hardened Eurosceptics. A Cabinet split had already emerged after Airbus warned that it could leave the UK if Britain exits the single market and customs union without a transition deal, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk. – Telegraph (£) Greg Clark urges ‘soft Brexit’ deal as cabinet divisions grow – Times (£) Clark tells UK business to ignore Johnson and speak out on Brexit – Bloomberg Full Cabinet to settle EU customs proposal at showdown Chequers summit Theresa May is to bypass her deadlocked Brexit war committee by summoning her full Cabinet to a showdown Chequers summit instead. The Prime Minister has ripped up plans for a meeting of her feuding 11-strong core team before it, sparking Brexiteer fears that she wants to railroad through a softer exit plan. While the inner Strategy and Negotiations Committee – nicknamed “the SN” – is bitterly divided down the middle, there is a Remain majority of 15-10 around her whole top table. The Sun can reveal that Mrs May’s Chief of Staff Gavin Barwell summoned all those Cabinet Ministers who are not in “the SN” to No10 to bring them up to speed on what had been agreed so far. – The Sun Cracks emerge in EU’s united front over Theresa May’s plan for Single Market… The European Union is split over Theresa May’s plan for a post-Brexit trading relationship that could mean parts of the economy staying in the single market. A draft white paper circulating in Whitehall is understood to propose binding Britain into Europe’s regulatory framework for goods. The proposal, a key demand of business, will be put to the cabinet at Chequers next week with the white paper being published on Monday. While popular with industry and regarded as key to solving the Irish border question, such an arrangement would hinder Britain from striking new trade deals. It would mean following single market rules on goods, European industrial regulations and upholding European law, possibly by joining the European Free Trade Area court. On customs, the Chequers meeting is likely to confirm the abandonment of the customs partnership plan in favour of maximum facilitation to avoid checks. – Times (£) …as Spain’s foreign minister says there will be no deal for goods access without free movement Theresa May’s plan to protect British industry by keeping the UK in a single market for goods without respecting the free movement of people after Brexit will be rejected by an “angry” France and Germany, despite some sympathy within the EU to Downing Street’s cause, Spain’s foreign minister has said. The new Spanish government would also block such a political fix, Josep Borrell told the Guardian, ahead of both a summit of leaders in Brussels and a summer tour by the prime minister of EU capitals during which May hopes to convince leaders of her economic case. – Guardian > Victoria Hewson on BrexitCentral today: The ‘goods-only’ model of Single Market membership should be a non-starter UK faces £10bn Brexit black hole not yet admitted by Treasury, MPs claim Britain faces a £10billion Brexit black hole not yet admitted by the Treasury, senior MPs claimed last night. A powerful Commons spending watchdog warned that more than £7billion in funds that the EU pays directly to private sector companies will dry up next March. And they added £3billion in British contributions to the European Development Fund were not included in the controversial £39 billion divorce bill settlement hammered out with Brussels. Boss of the Public Accounts Committee Meg Hillier sounded the alarm, hitting out: “The true cost of Brexit is a matter of outstanding public interest.” – The Sun Tony Blair suggests Brexit might have to be delayed… Theresa May could have to delay the March 2019 Brexit date because of the political impasse over the UK’s future outside the EU, Tony Blair will say. The former prime minister will use a major speech to hit out at both the Tories and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour over the state of the Brexit process, demanding a more assertive Parliament and a fresh referendum on any deal with the EU. His comments come in a speech in which he will warn about a rise of populism which risks a return to the 1930s and the danger of the West losing sight of the values which brought the US and Europe together. – Telegraph …and that a return to dark 1930s politics no longer far-fetched A return to the dark politics of the 1930s is no longer far-fetched today because of rampant nationalist populism and the widespread rejection of multilateral alliances, according to Tony Blair. In a stark speech to the Chatham House thinktank in London, the former British prime minister will say he has never been so worried about the future of the UK. Blair will also tell Donald Trump, ahead of the US president’s visit to Europe next month, that he must act to preserve the transatlantic alliance, or else he will weaken the whole of the west in the struggle against rising nations such as China. – Guardian Brexit deadlock is stoking European fascism, warns Labour Brexit negotiator Keir Starmer – Independent Barry Gardiner sparks Labour rebellions over EU trade deals with Canada and Japan The Shadow International Trade Secretary called on his backbenchers to abstain on a government motion backing the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. But following a debate in which Mr Gardiner was attacked by MPs from all parties, 14 Labour members defied their frontbench to vote in favour of it, while another four rebelled by voting against. There were even extraordinary claims that Labour chief whip Nick Brown had “physically intimidated” those MPs defying the party whip. Those allegations were strongly denied by sources close to Mr Brown. In a later vote on a separate trade deal between the EU and Japan, there was an even bigger rebellion when 17 Labour MPs voted for it instead of abstaining. – PoliticsHome Unions join business leaders to demand urgency in Brexit talks British and European trade unions and business organisations have joined forces to demand that “pace and urgency” be injected into the Brexit talks as complaints about the lack of progress made in negotiations intensified ahead of this week’s EU summit. The TUC and the CBI released a rare joint statement with their continental counterparts calling for “measurable progress”, a day after the car industry called for a Brexit deal that delivers “single market benefits” and cabinet tensions over the issue flared into the open. The workers’ and business organisations said: “We are calling on the UK government and the EU to inject pace and urgency in the negotiations, bringing about measurable progress, in particular a backstop arrangement to avoid a hard border in Ireland. – Guardian Companies prepare for clean Brexit – Times (£) Corporate world must recognise the Government’s duty to honour the referendum – Sun editorial European business groups blast UK and EU for lack of progress on Brexit services deal – City A.M. BMW has no plans to move production from Brexit Britain… BMW is not considering moving production out of Britain because of Brexit-linked uncertainty, board member Ian Robertson confirmed today. When asked by a reporter at a conference whether the German car manufacturer was “actively considering” moving production out of Britain due to uncertainty over future trade relationships, Robertson said: “no we’re not.” “We are committed to our operations in the UK, our workforce here,” he added. This contrasts comments published in the Financial Times yesterday which suggested the German carmaker had joined Airbus in its warning that British jobs would be under threat from a ‘no deal’ Brexit. – City A.M. …as Jaguar Land Rover announces £20bn investment… Jaguar Land Rover bosses have unveiled plans to spend around £20 billion over the next five years, launching new cars and increasing the range of engines made at its factory in Wolverhampton. The strategy is aimed at reversing a slowdown in sales of Jaguars and Land Rovers over recent months, hit by worries over diesels and the impact of Brexit. – Express and Star …and car makers are ‘promised’ clarity on Brexit by October What are we to make of the car industry’s latest “warning” to the government? On Tuesday morning, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said uncertainty about the UK’s future trading relationship with the EU is “thwarting” investment and that anything less than “continued membership of the customs union” and “maintenance of the benefits the single market delivers” will cost jobs in an industry that employs one million people in Britain. You’ve heard this song before, although it’s being sung with some urgency. The carefully-worded press release speaks of “growing frustration in global boardrooms” at the slow progress of Brexit negotiations. – ITV News EU signals no easing up on financial market access after Brexit The European Union’s default market access for foreign financial firms will not be eased for Britain after Brexit and improvements to the equivalence regime will apply to all third countries, an EU official told Reuters. The official’s comments raise the prospect that banks and insurers in the City of London financial district will at best face restricted cross-border trade with the bloc after Britain leaves the EU. City institutions have already scaled back expectations of continued full access to the EU from Britain once any transition period ends, or that a novel, bespoke trade deal can be agreed. This leaves Britain with the bloc’s “off the shelf” system of direct market access — known as equivalence — as the probable if imperfect bet, EU officials have said. – Reuters What the public think about Brexit two years after the referendum When we ask what people think the government should do about leaving the EU, just over half (53%) think that it should go ahead with Brexit, mostly on its current course (42%) though 11% would prefer a softer Brexit. A fifth (21%) think that the government should call a fresh referendum instead, while 13% would prefer them just to halt Brexit altogether. Neither is there much support for other means by which the decision to leave the EU could be reversed. By 50% to 29% people think it would be illegitimate for MPs in the House of Commons to vote against Brexit going ahead, and by 45% to 37% people oppose the idea of another referendum once the terms of the withdrawal negotiations are known. – YouGov City tycoon Peter Cruddas says Britain must get right Brexit deal or ‘walk away’ The boss of CMC Markets and former Tory party treasurer Peter Cruddas has said Britain should “walk away” unless it can get the right EU deal, and attacked the Lords and rebel MPs for frustrating Brexit efforts. Mr Cruddas – a self-proclaimed major Brexiteer – accused peers of seeking to block Brexit by backing amendments to give Parliament a “meaningful vote” on the final deal and how to proceed in the absence of a withdrawal agreement. The spread betting tycoon, 64, told the Press Association no deal was better than a bad deal for the UK and claimed peers had overstepped the mark after seeking to push through 15 amendments to the Brexit Bill. UK consumers continue to spend The latest dashboard shows better news for the economy as retail sales jumped by 1.3% in May from a month earlier, comfortably beating expectations for a rise of just 0.5%. Inflation also held steady at 2.4% in May for the second month running, despite petrol prices rising to the highest levels for almost four years. There was more good news from surveys of business activity recorded by IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, showing a strong rebound for the UK economy’s dominant services industry, as well as recoveries in output for the manufacturing and construction industry from the slowdown triggered by heavy snowfall and freezing weather earlier in the year. However, the surveys jar with official figures from the Office for National Statistics released over the past month showing the weakest monthly performance for UK factories in April since October 2012. Factory output fell by 1.4% on the previous month, compared with economists’ forecasts for growth of 0.3%. – Guardian Fanatical Remain backer confronts young Brexit supporter on the tube and calls her a ‘thick racist’ because she voted Leave Lucy Harris, 27, was harrassed on the tube by a man claiming to be a lawyer during London’s morning rush hour. As shocked bystanders looked on, the man told her she was “thick” because of her support for Brexit. The incident, which took place on a Northern Line train this morning, was sparked by a bag Miss Harris carried which said “The EU is not my bag”… He then launched into a furious tirade, saying: “You’re either racist or thick, I don’t know which one.” The man added: “Your bag is disgusting, you’re taking away my EU citizenship.” … The Brexit backer, founder of the group Leavers of London, told The Sun: “This behaviour doesn’t surprise me – Leave voters have assumptions and aggression directed to them on a regular basis… Leave voters are just normal people going about their daily lives, they have a right to express themselves as much as the next person. It’s time we started sticking up for the person who works a nine-to-five, who voted Leave and is fed up with abuse for merely casting a democratic vote.” – The Sun ‘#Proudtovoteleave’: Brexiteer blasts Remain-backing lawyer who ‘branded her “racist” and “thick” in furious Tube rant because she was carrying an EU Isn’t My Bag handbag’ – Daily Mail Telegraph: Clarity from the Government over Brexit would end this reheated Project Fear Every day brings a new litany of complaints from business bosses about the progress of the Brexit negotiations. It began with the French-owned manufacturers Airbus warning of the consequences of no deal and the risk it would pose to thousands of jobs in the UK. A similar point was made by BMW, the German car makers. At first, the Government seemed irritated with these interventions. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, castigated the companies for making the Government’s job more difficult. Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, was overheard at a departmental reception dismissing the concerns of business in colourful, if undiplomatic, terms. – Telegraph editorial (£) Tim Martin: We have a terrific chance to choose free trade and a road to riches after Brexit After the epic referendum battle and two years of trench warfare, the UK is approaching a fork in the road. The key issue for the country today is whether we adopt the free trade approach of hugely successful economies such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand, or whether we continue to shelter behind the EU’s high-tariff barriers. Tariffs are taxes on imported goods, which keep prices in shops and pubs at artificially high levels. The EU masquerades as a free-trade system, but the reality is that it imposes tariffs on imports from the 93 per cent of the world that isn’t a member of the bloc. Brussels’ unelected chief Eurocrat Jean-Claude Juncker and his autocratic acolytes have the temerity to lecture Donald Trump on free trade. Yet the EU itself keeps prices high by imposing tariffs on more than 12,000 imported products, including rice, coffee, oranges, new world wine, and children’s shoes and clothes. – Tim Martin for The Sun Daniel Hannan: Higher taxes, spending bungs, pay caps, gender quotas. Is this really the brave new Brexit Britain we want? Heathrow, Hinkley Point, HS2. Three big and expensive infrastructure decisions faced Theresa May when she took office, and I suspect she could see a case against each of them. But the Brexit vote had created a new context. Britain had to show that it was open for business. Being open for business meant being able to move goods around quickly. It also meat honouring deals – including sub-optimal deals – with overseas investors. So the new Prime Minister decided to give three green lights. And you can see her point. I never wanted to expand Heathrow. I thought there were many better alternatives, not least Boris’s plan for a new airport on the other side of London. But those options are no longer current, and a new runway at Heathrow is plainly preferable to no new runway at all. – Daniel Hannan MEP for ConservativeHome Allison Pearson: Remainers may call for a ‘people’s vote’ but we all know they mean ‘the right kind of people’ On Saturday afternoon, Himself was on a train back to Cambridge which was packed with Remainers burnished with sun-kissed fervour from taking part in the anti-Brexit march through London. “They were the most charming, good-humoured protesters you could hope to meet, extremely considerate with their placards,” he teased, “You would have absolutely hated them, darling.” Actually, you know what, I wouldn’t. I could never dislike anyone for voting to stay in the European Union. Some of my best friends are Remainers, although I notice the bolshier, more entrepreneurial ones tended to vote Leave. – Allison Pearson for the Telegraph (£) Asa Bennett: Ministers want their own Brexit dividends, but Theresa May cannot satisfy everyone When a nurse accosted Theresa May on TV during the election campaign about her pay, the prime minister’s reply was blunt: “There isn’t a magic money tree that we can shake that suddenly provides for everything that people want.” The prime minister has since managed over the last year to find a magic money tree, using it to suddenly provide for pay rises for those working for the National Health Service. And now she has found a further £20 billion a year in real terms for the NHS, as a birthday present to mark its 70 years of existence. – Asa Bennett for the Telegraph (£) Owen Polley: Brexit doesn’t make an all-Ireland state inevitable Nationalists and republicans in Ireland are predisposed to believe that an independent, 32-county Irish state is inevitable. Since Northern Ireland was created, in 1921, they’ve remained convinced that the region’s existence will be short-lived and they will soon attain their goal. This sense of historical destiny has its peaks and troughs, but it’s a constant factor in politics north and south of the border. The UK’s decision to leave the EU is just the latest development to generate excited speculation about the likely effects of a ‘border poll’ on Northern Ireland’s constitutional future. Separatists are keen to encourage the idea that, because a majority in the province voted remain, a significant number of former unionists would support an all-Ireland state, in order to retain links with Brussels. – Owen Polley for Reaction Matthew Lynn: Businesses should try and shape Brexit – not fight it Airbus will abandon the UK. The car factories will all be closed down. Trade will grind to a halt, we will run out of food and medicines, and Harry Kane will be sold to Real Madrid and made captain of Spain instead of England. Okay, I made that last one up, but all the others are among the dire warnings that big business have issued over Brexit in the last few weeks. Project Fear III, or IV, or possibly XXVII by now, keeps coming back. Right now, it seems to have as many sequels as Jurassic World, and with plot-lines that are about as original. That, however, is a mistake, and potentially a serious one. Sure, industry has plenty of legitimate concerns about our departure from the EU. But it should be trying to shape Brexit, not just re-run a failed referendum strategy. – Matthew Lynn for the Spectator Brexit in brief The Heathrow saga shows we need far greater ambition after Brexit – Philip Johnston for the Telegraph (£) A bigger Heathrow will help keep Britain global – FT (£) The EU stands for the few, not the many – Nick Clark for the Socialist Worker Brexit voters weren’t duped by propaganda – Paul Embry for UnHerd I was with Nigel Farage on referendum night – and there was no ‘Brexit short’ conspiracy – Gawain Towler for the Telegraph (£) From bourbon to motorcycles: the iconic US products hit by the EU’s retaliatory tariffs – Telegraph Hammond tells China that Britain committed to free trade – Reuters No deal yet for German coalition over migrant row – Daily Mail UK offers EU border patrol boat ahead of summit – Politico David Davis is branded the ‘tea boy’ by Irish ministers – Daily Mail And finally… Pro-Brexit graffiti artist marks two-year referendum anniversary A graffiti artist has depicted the UK as dove escaping an EU birdcage to mark the two-year referendum anniversary. Athirty4 also portrayed the country as a ventriloquist dummy sitting on EU commissioner Jean Claude-Juncker’s lap in a separate piece. The provocative artwork, on a footbridge and derelict house around Oxford, voices his concerns about staying in the Customs Union post-Brexit. – The London Economic